Nature aint always pretty

Ransom and I didn’t arrive home until the 23^rd of December, so the decorations this year will be minimal. It’s the morning of Christmas Eve as I write this and so far the only thing I’ve hung is my beloved 67-year-old Santa face -- you can see him in the picture below. We did just install our Christmas tree though and shortly I will add lights. Probably only lights this year, as adding man-made ornaments to this glorious work of nature seems somehow wrong.

Christmas doesn’t mean as much as it once did, though I did choke up a bit as the congregation of Kings College Chapel, Cambridge, sang O Come All Ye Faithful during today’s Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.

But back to the tree. Hurricane Sandy toppled LOTS of trees in our neck of the woods, including this Norwegian Pine, so this morning Ransom and I, and the three dogs (Cassie, Zeus and Paulo) went into those woods to bring home the top of this once 40-foot tall tree. Sure, she’s not a perfectly shaped product of some Christmas tree farm somewhere, but that’s more to the good. She grew proudly just yards away from us and now, instead of rotting in place where she fell, she is gracing our home.

Nature aint always pretty, but she can be sweet and rich with meaning.

Merry Christmas all!